DONGAN'S  CHARTER  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Read  before  the  United  States  Cath^olic  Historical  Society 
by  John  Gilmary  Shea. 

There  is  a  subject  which  the  Executive  Council  con- 
sidered too  important  not  to  be  commemorated  by  at  best  a 
brief  mention  in  a  meeting  of  a  Society  devoted  by  its  very 
charter  to  preserve  and  make  known  all  that  relates  to  the 
history  of  Catholics  in  this  country. 

The  act  is  that  by  which  on  April,  1686,  New  York  was 
raised  to  the  rank  of  a  city,  endowed  with  property  and  fran- 
chises. It  was  the  act  of  a  Catholic  Governor  acting  in  the 
name  and  by  authority  of  a  Catholic  Lord  Proprietor,  who 
after  making  New  York  English  and  the  keystone  of  a  great 
colonial  system  that  was  to  secure  to  our  tongue  the  pre- 
ponderance on  this  continent,  had  ascended  the  throne  of 
England,  the  first  and  only  Catholic  to  rule  there  during  the 
last  three  hundred  years. 

•'The  Dongan  Charter"  is  a  theme  that  we  hoped  to  have 
treated  here  by  the  Irish  Catholic  Mayor  of  New  York,  as 
some  remarks  would  come  appositely  from  his  lips,  filling  as 
he  does  the  Chief  magistracy  of  a  city  chartered  two  centuries 
ago  by  an  Irish  Catholic  Governor. 

I  regret  that  the  topic  does  not  fall  to  better  hands  than 
mine,  and  as  I  too  can  plead  ill  health,  I  beg  your  indulgence. 

Some  years  ago,  a  high  city  official  listening  to  an  im- 
portant debate  in  the  Chamber  or  argument  in  Court  heard 


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constant  reference  to  the  Dongan  Charter.  At  last  he  leaned 
over  to  some  other  official  near  him  and  asked  in  a  whisper  ; 
'•What  is  the  Dongan  Charter  ?  "  His  friend's  blank  visage 
did  not  require  even  the  movement  of  his  head  to  show  his 
ignorance.  An  appeal  to  another  City  worthy  resulted  in  no 
more  satisfactory  elucidation  of  the  problem,  and  the  high 
official  resigned  himself  to  the  prevailmg  ignorance.  But  the 
allusions  to  "Dongan's  Charter"  became  too  much  for  human 
nature.  He  rushed  out  of  the  City  Hall,  secured  a  carriage 
on  Broadw^ay  and  ordered  the  coachman  to  drive  at  once  to 
the  New  York  Historical  Society.  Alighting,  he  mounted 
the  stairs,  and  the  staircase  of  that  venerable  institution 
was  not  planned  with  an  eye  to  the  comfort  of  well  fed  city 
offiicials  and  entering  the  Library  asked  of  the  Custodian  of 
books,  his  great  conundrum  ;  "What  is  the  Dongan  Charter.?" 
The  answer  came  promptly:  it  was  the  charter  making  New 
York  a  city  and  giving  it  extensive  rights,  granted  April  2 2d, 
1686  in  the  name  of  James  11  King  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  by  Colonel  Thomas  Dongan,  an  Irish  Catholic  Gen- 
tlemen, then  Govenor  of  the  province  of  New  York.  But 
where  is  this  great  document.  !  "  was  the  next  question.  "The 
original  in  several  large  sheets  of  parchment  with  its  seals  is 
preserved  in  the  office  of  the  Comptroller."  "What  down  in 
the  Park  ?  "  "Undoubtedly."  "And  where  can  I  see  a  copy  ?  " 
"More  or  less  correctly  in  the  City  Charter,  in  many  col- 
lections of  Laws  relating  to  the  City  and  in  many  of 
Valentine's  Common  Council  Manuals." 

After  examining  a  copy  he  hurried  back,  and  studying 
it  at  leisure  set  up  as  a  pundit  in  regard  to  "Dongan's 
Charter." 

In  the  remarks  about  to  be  presented,  I  am  far  from 
implying  in  my  audience  any  such  ignorance  as  to  the  Don- 
gan Charter,  or  the  Governor  who  granted  it,  or  of  the  reign 
and  the  times  in  which  he  lived.  Much  less  do  I  pretend  to 
give  a  full  or  comprehensive  account,  for  it  would  require  a 
volume  to  present  real  facts  and  sweep  away  accumulated 
dust  and  cobwebs  that  have  long  passed  for  history. 

The  elevation  of  New  York  to  the  rank  of  a  city  was 


3 


only  one  of  a  series  of  wisely  planned  and  ably  guided  acts 
looking  to  the  future  well  being  and  greatness  of  America. 
It  was  important  not  to  the  city  only  and  the  colony  of  New 
York,  but  to  the  English  empire  in  America,  which  the 
house  of  Brunswick  subsequently  received,  but  lacked  states- 
manship and  honesty  enough  to  retain.  The  Guelphs  lost 
and  lost  dearly  what  the  Stuarts  consolidated  and  secured. 
This  to  some  may  be  viewing  history  from  a  new  standpoint, 
but  it  is  a  correct  view. 

Any  one  who  passes  rapidly  in  mind  over  the  list  of 
English  monarchs  whose  rule  extended  to  this  country,  will 
see  little  interest  displayed  by  any  of  them  in  its  actual  or 
future  prosperity.  Elizabeth  gave  grants,  James  did  the 
same  and  wrote  a  book  to  injure  tobacco,  the  great  staple 
of  Virginia;  Charles  I  made  land  concessions,  but  that  was 
all.  Cromwell  did  nothing  but  involve  Maryland  and  Vir- 
ginia in  strife  and  confusion.  Pleasure  loving  Charles  II 
of  his  own  impulse  would  have  done  as  little  for  America  as 
any  of  his  predecessors;  but  his  brother  James  was  a  man  of 
different  stamp.  Eminently  a  man  of  action  and  adminis- 
trative ability,  James,  Duke  of  York,  applied  himself  during 
his  exile  to  acquire  military  experience  and  saw  service  under 
the  best  general  of  his  time.  After  the  restoration  he  was 
made  Lord  High  Admiral  of  England,  and  he  set  to  work  to 
increase  the  efficiency  of  the  British  navy.  The  rules  drawn 
up  by  him  were  so  wise,  so  thorough  and  so  practical  that 
they  were  maintained  till  our  time,  and  the  Nelsons,  the 
Rodneys  and  the  Hoods,  the  men  who  made  England  mis- 
tress of  the  seas,  were  trained  under  the  system  introduced 
by  James,  whom  venal  or  careless  historians  persist  in  hold- 
ing up  to  us  as  a  shallow,  bigoted  man. 

In  France  he  had  learned  from  the  numerous  books 
printed  on  Canada  and  Acadia,  the  extent  of  the  French 
empire  in  America,  and  saw  how  the  indifference  of  the 
English  government  was  periling  not  only  the  future  sway 
of  our  continent,  but  the  very  existence  of  the  two  neglected 
groups  of  colonies,  Virginia  and  Maryland  at  the  south,  and 
New  England  at  the  north,  colonies  posssessing  no  common 


4 


bond  or  tie,  colonies  not  homogeneous  in  government,  re- 
ligion or  policy. 

Reviving  an  old  English  claim,  James  solicited  from  his 
brother  a  grant  of  the  territory  colonized  by  the  Dutch  and 
that  was  wrested  by  them  from  the  Swedes.  As  head  of  the 
navy  he  sent  over  the  vessels  and  force  necessary  to  take 
possession.  New  Netherland  disappeared  from  the  map, 
and  New  York,  a  new  English  colony  became  the  con- 
necting link  between  New  England  and  Maryland,  and  as 
his  grant  included  Maine,  the  British  flag  floated  from  the 
Penobscot  to  Cape  Fear,  over  a  series  of  colonies  in  unbroken 
line.  We  see  his  influence  too  in  the  grant  of  the  Carolinas 
to  a  number  of  noblemen,  completing  the  occupation  of  the 
coast  and  confronting  the  French  in  Acadia  at  the  north,  and 
the  Spaniards  in  Florida  at  the  south. 

That  the  credit  is  due  to  James  and  not  to  any  settled 
policy  of  English  statesmen  is  evident,  from  the  fact  that 
this  plan  had  no  precedent,  and  that  for  nearly  half  a  century 
after  the  fall  of  James  not  a  step  was  taken  to  extend  the 
limits  of  the  British  coast  line  his  genius  had  secured. 

To  develop  the  province  he  had  himself  acquired  James 
transferred  the  country  between  the  Hudson  and  Delaware 
to  others  who  soon  peopled  New  Jersey.  His  friend  William 
Penn,  interested  in  that  colony,  soon  became  Proprietor  of 
Pennsylvania,  as  all  know,  by  the  aid  and  support  of  James. 
In  New  York  he  established  English  laws,  introduced  English 
settlers  and  developed  the  resources  of  the  province.  There 
he  established  liberty  of  conscience,  Bancroft  says  that  "no 
glimpse  of  it  reached  James,"  and  that  he  was  "an  advocate 
of  toleration  without  a  sense  of  the  natural  right  to  freedem 
of  conscience,"  but  that  James  was  in  the  full  sunshine 
instead  of  getting  a  mere  glimpse  is  proved  by  his  acts.  He 
established  religious  freedom  in  New  York  and  lost  his 
throne  for  endeavoring  to  establish  toleration  in  England. 

Let  me  quote  a  more  impartial  writer,  one  not  biased  by 
hereditary  New  England  hate  of  James,  never  forgiven  for 
his  endeavor  to  bring  that  part  of  America  into  harmony 
with  the  British  constitution. 


5 


"Determined  to  give  his  American  province  the  fran- 
chises its  people  desired,  the  Duke  of  York  sought  an  able 
colonial  governor  to  take  the  place  of  Andros  *  *  *  *  The 
man  chosen  by  James  was  Colonel  Thomas  Dongan,  born  in 
1634,  a  younger  son  of  an  Irish  baronet,  Sir  John  Dongan, 
and  a  nephew  of  Richard  Talbot,  afterward  created  Earl  and 
Duke  of  Tyrconnel  in  Ireland.  Thomas  Dongan,  of  course, 
gained  advancement  by  his  brother's  and  his  uncle's  in- 
fluence at  the  English  court.  Dongan  was  quickly  promoted 
to  be  a  colonel  in  the  royal  army,  and  having  been  assigned 
to  serve  with  his  Irish  regiment  under  Louis  was  stationed 
for  some  time  at  Nancy.  In  1678  he  was  ordered  home  from 
France,  to  his  pecuniary  loss;  but  was  rewarded  by  Charles 
with  a  pension  and  the  appointment  of  Lieutenant  Governor 
of  Tangier,  in  Africa,  under  Lord  Inchiquin,  whence  he  was 
recalled  in  1680.  Dongan  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  enter- 
prising and  active;  coveting  money,  yet  "a  man  of  integrity, 
moderation  and  genteel  manners."  His  experience  in  France 
was  an  important  recommendation,  because  of  the  delicate 
relations  between  New  York  and  Canada,  and  the  necessity 
of  managing  them  skilfully  on  the  English  side.  Dongan 
was  accordingly  appointed  governor  of  New  York." 

Such  is  the  language  of  John  Romeyn  Brodhead,  his- 
torian of  our  State,  a  scholar  and  man  of  thought,  with  no 
bias  in  favor  of  an  Irishman  or  a  Catholic. 

Several  new  officers  came  over  with  Dongan.  "The 
Rev.  Doctor  John  Gordon  was  also  commissioned  to  be  chap- 
lain of  the  soldiers  in  New  York.  An  English  Jesuit  priest, 
Thomas  Harvey,  of  London,  likewise  accompanied  Dongan, 
who  embarked  for  America  in  the  old  Parliamentarian 
frigate  'Constant  Warwick.'  With  a  considerable  retinue 
Dongan  arrived  at  Nantasket,  and  set  out  for  New  York 
overland,  accompanied  some  ten  miles  to  Dedham,  by  a 
troop  of  Boston  militia,  besides  several  other  gents  of  the 
town."  Brodhead  "History  of  the  State  of  New  York,  ii  pp. 
370-375,    This  was  in  August,  1683. 

About  two  weeks  after  his  arrival  on  this  island,  Dongan 
summoned  the  first  assembly  of  the  province  of  New  York. 


6 


When  James  became  proprietor,  such  a  step  with  a  people 
ignorant  of  British  laws  and  government,  would  have  been 
useless.  To  give  the  power  to  the  handful  of  English  who 
came  over,  would  have  been  to  make  a  petty  minority  govern 
the  majority.  New  York  had  in  twenty  years  years  however 
developed  and  James  who  wished  the  people  to  be  governed 
impartially  now  established  a  form 'of  goverment  in  which  he 
aimed  to  give  the  legislation  to  the  free-holders,  securing  on 
their  part  a  loyal  dependence  on  the  British  crown,  wiser  in 
his  generation  than  the  Georges  in  the  next  century. 

On  the  17th.  of  October.  i684.  the  seventeen  delegates  to 
the  first  New  York  Colonial  assembly  met  with  the  Governor 
and  Council  in  Fort  James,  the  English  fort  between  the 
Bowling-green  and  the  bay.  The  first  and  grandest  of  its 
acts  was  "The  Charter  of  Liberties  and  Priviledges,"  se- 
curing the  rights  of  British  subjects  and  establishing 
entire  freedom  of  concience  and  religion  to  all  peaceable 
persons  which  profess  faith  in  God  by  Jesus  Christ." 

Thus  is  Dongan's  name  linked  with  an  act  and  a  day 
memorable  in  the  annals  of  New  York. 

But  this  is  not  his  only  claim  to  a  place  in  history.  He 
at  once  took  a  firm  stand  for  New  York  Colony  and  its  rights. 
While  Thomas  Dongan  was  Governor  of  New  York  no  in- 
fringement on  its  territoral  or  other  rights,  be  it  from  the 
French  in  Canada,  the  over  reaching  men  of  New  England 
or  the  Proprietor  of  Pennsylvania  or  the  Governors  of 
Maryland  and  Virginia  would  be  brooked. 

He  was  the  bold,  skilful,  polished  but  determined  up- 
holder of  the  rights  of  New  York.  He  was  a  splendid 
exponent  of  state  rights. 

Towards  the  French  he  presented  a  firm  front.  The 
noble  missions  of  the  Jesuits  among  the  Five  Nations  had,  as 
a  Catholic,  Dongan's  warmest  sympathy,  but  France  could 
not  make  their  pious  labors  the  ground  of  a  territorial  claim- 
The  territory  of  the  Iroquois  was  withm  the  limits  of  New 
York,  and  New  York  would  not  recognize  any  claim  to  a 
single  foot  of  land  in  their  occupation.  He  upheld  the  line 
of  the  great  lakes  as  the  natural  border,  and  strove  to  keep 


the  French  from  any  foothold  below  that  line.  Seeing  the 
importance  of  Detroit,  he  endeavored  to  occupy  it  as  a  key 
to  the  West.  If  the  line  of  the  lakes  is  now  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  United  States,  we  owe  it  to  James  II  and  his 
able  lieutenant  Thomas  Dongan. 

Maryland  and  Virginia  had  grounds  of  complaint  against 
the  Five  Nations.  They  sought  to  negotiate  with  that  won- 
derful confederacy.  Dongan  put  his  foot  down.  They  are 
New  York  Indians.  You  can  negotiate  with  them  only  in  my 
presence  and  by  my  sanction.  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham 
came  from  Virginia  to  make  terms  with  the  Indians  under 
the  eye  of  the  Catholic  Colonel.  His  negotiation  gave  for  all- 
time  to  the  Virginians  an  Iroquois  name.  The  Dutch  inter- 
preter wishing  to  convey  to  the  Mohawks  the  meaning 
of  Howard,  took  the  nearest  Dutch  word  he  could  find,  one 
meaning  a  hanger  or  short-sword.  This  to  the  Indians  was 
big-knife,  and  they  called  the  Governor  of  Virginia  Assarigoa. 
Big- Knife  ;  and  that  henceforward  became  the  name  for 
Virginians.  Dongan's  claim  over  the  Five  Nations  endures 
to  this  day.  When  the  Federal  Government  was  formed,  it 
attempted  to  pour  its  legion  of  Indian  agents,  contract 
schemers,  and  plunderers  on  the  Indians  in  New  York  State, 
especially  the  Five  Nations.  Governor  Clinton  took  his  stand 
on  Dongan's  strong  position.  "The  Six  Nations  are  New 
York  Indians.  We  tolerate  no  interference  from  the  general 
goverment,"  and  this  attitude  has  been  maintained. 

Towards  New  England  Dongan  was  equally  firm.  In  the 
whole  line  of  Colonial  Governors  there  is  not  one  who  can  be 
ranked  higher  than  Colonel  Thomas  Dongan.  Brodhead, 
indeed,  accuses  him  of  love  of  money,  but  more  money  was 
freely  voted  to  him  than  future  governors,,  could  wring  by 
flattery  or  force.  And  Dongan  freely  spent  the  money  in  the 
public  service.  He  left  office  with  arrears  of  salary  due  him 
and  large  amounts  advanced  from  his  purse  for  public  needs. 

Among  the  memorable  acts  of  his  administartion  was 
that  of  granting  a  Charter  to  the  City  of  New  York  in  the 
name  of  the  King. 

New  York  had  enjoyed  a  kind  of  vague  existence  as  a 


8 


city.  It  had  the  name  without  the  substance.  It  had  no 
powers  that  courts  would  be  bouud  to  recognize. 

To  place  the  rights  of  the  city  on  a  firm  basis,  Dongan  in 
April,  1686,  in  the  name  and  certainly  not  without  the  sanc- 
tion of  King  James  II,  issued  a  Charter  in  the  name  of  James 
as  King  of  England,  Scotland,  France  and  Ireland,  and  also 
as  Supreme  Lord  and  Proprietor  of  the  Colony  and  Province 
of  New  Yord.  It  recognized  New  York  as  an  ancient  city 
confirmed  all  its  rights  whether  by  prescription  or  by  any 
grant,  formal  or  informal,  from  the  States  General  or  himself, 
or  governors  acting  in  their  name. 

Technically  a  city  requires  a  bishop,  but  we  were  not 
ready  just  then  to  begin  our  line  of  bishops.  In  fact  we 
had  to  wait  sometime. 

All  lands  granted  to  the  city,  the  public  buildings  erec- 
ted, the  streets,  ferries  and  all  privileges,  franchises,  rights, 
royalties,  free  customs,  jurisdictions  and  immunites  exercised 
by  the  city  were  declared  to  be  irrevocably  vested  in  the 
Mayor,  Aldermen  and  Commonalty  of  the  City  of  New  York. 
Still  more  important  perhaps  was  the  grant  to  the  City  of  all 
waste,  vacant,  unpatented  and  unappropriated  lands  on  the 
island,  with  all  rivers,  rivulets,  coves,  creeks,  ponds,  waters 
and  water-courses,  all  land  around  the  city  down  to  low  water 
mark  with  power  to  fill  in  and  reclaim 

New  York  was  to  have  a  Mayor,  six  aldermen  and  as 
many  assistants,  a  town  clerk,  a  chamberlain,  a  sheriff,  a 
coroner,  a  clerk  of  the  market,  a  high  constable  and  a  mar- 
shall.  Nicholas  Bayard  was  appointed  the  first  Mayor,  and 
of  the  six  Aldermen  two  bear  English  and  four  Dutch 
names. 

The  Corporation  thus  created  received  power  to  regu- 
ulate  trade,  markets  and  fairs,  to  open  new  streets  and 
ferries,  and  to  pass  ordinances  for  the  government  of  the 
city. 

The  Mayor  with  the  Recorder  or  some  of  the  Aldermen 
was  to  preside  in  a  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  hold  a 
criminal  court  for  the  trial  of  offenders. 

Such  were  the  principal  topics  of  this  Charter  which 


9 


declares  at  its  close  "  that  such  and  no  other  construction 
shall  be  made  thereof,  than  that  which  may  tend  most  to 
advantage  religion,  justice  and  the  public  good;  and  to  sup- 
press all  acts  and  contrivances  to  be  invented,  or  put  in  use 
contrary  thereunto," 

That  New  York  prospered  under  the  Dongan  Charter 
is  seen  by  the  tenacity  with  which  the  citizens  clung  to  it. 
When  further  powers  were  sought  and  a  new  charter  issued 
under  Governor  Montgomerie  in  1730,  care  was  taken  to 
recite  the  Dongan  Charter  at  full  length  and  confirm  it. 
That  was  the  corner  stone. 

The  able  governor  Dongan  held  his  office  till  James  in 
1 688  united  the  province  of  New  York  to  New  England,  and 
placed  all  under  the  administration  of  Sir  Edmund  Andros. 

Then  Governor  Dongan  retired  to  his  own  estate,  in  the 
colony.  He  had  acquired  lands  on  Staten  Island  and  Long 
Island;  and  had  brought  over  two  of  his  kinsmen,  apparently 
intending  to  make  New  York  his  home  and  establish  the 
Dongan  family  here.  The  fall  of  James  II  left  New  York  in 
confusion.  A  wild  German  fanatic,  Leisler,  seized  the  reins 
of  government  in  New  York.  Left  by  William  Ill's  in- 
difference and  neglect  to  do  his  will  he  launched  the  New 
York  Indians  on  the  French  in  Canada,  and  committed  a 
frightful  massacre  at  Lachine,  compelling  the  French  on 
their  side  to  use  Indians  in  war,  as  they  did  with  fearful 
effect  on  New  England  and  New  York  for  many  a  day. 

Dongan  had  taken  no  part  in  favor  of  the  fallen  mon- 
arch, but  Leisler  hunted  him  like  a  wolf,  and  the  best 
governor  New  York  had  had  was  glad  at  last  to  escape  to 
Rhode  Island,  and  sail  to  England  from  the  port  of  Boston 
where  he  had  been  so  honorably  received. 

He  reached  England  to  find  a  foreigner  on  the  throne, 
his  brother  the  Earl  of  Limerick  in  exile,  the  property  of  the 
family  confiscated.  His  own  accounts  as  Governor  had 
never  been  settled,  and  New  York  owed  him  heavy  arrears. 
He  petitioned  in  vain  for  the  repayment  of  moneys  which  he 
had  with  public  spirit  advanced,  and  for  arrears  due  him.  It 
was  not  till  after  long  delay  that  a  pittance  reached  Dongan, 


10 


a  poor  reward  for  long  and  able  services  to  create  a  British 
Empire  in  America. 

When  his  brother  died  and  the  Earldom  of  Limerick' 
devolved  upon  him,  he  sought  at  least  a  portion  of  the  im- 
mense estates  in  Ireland  which  had  been  confiscated,  but 
the  same  niggardly  policy  prevailed. 

The  great  governor  of  New  York,  Thomas  Dongan, 
Earl  of  Limerick,  died  at  last  in  the  obscurity  of  poverty  at 
London,  and  was  interred  in  Saint  Pancras'  Churchyard, 
the  chosen  place  of  repose  of  Catholics  of  rank. 

The  Charter  is  still  preserved  intact  in  the  office  of  the 
Comptroller  of  the  city,but  may  easily  be  marred  or  destroyed. 
It  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  interesting  documents  re- 
lating to  the  city  and  its  rights,  and  yet  one  gentleman  seeking 
to  consult  it,  found  it  used  as  a  foot-rest  by  a  clerk. 

In  the  hope  of  being  able  to  show  the  original  Charter 
to  the  members  of  the  Society,  I  applied  to  the  Hon. 
W.  Low,  to  permit  it  to  be  brought  here  this  evening  in  cus- 
tody of  one  of  the  officers  of  his  department,  Walter  Dongan, 
a  descendent  of  the  great  governor,  being  now  one.  He  re- 
ceived our  application  with  great  courtesy,  but  expressed  his 
regret  that  he  could  not  allow  it  to  be  removed  from  his 
office  except  under  a  subpoena  from  a  court  of  justice. 

We  are  not  prepared  just  yet  to  involve  ourselves  in  liti- 
gation, even  with  a  skilful  lawyer  for  our  president ;  but  I 
question  whether  the  comptroller  has  any  right  to  the  custody 
of  the  Dongan  Charter.  He  is  not  one  of  the  ancient  officers 
created  by  the  charter,  while  the  chamberlain  is  :  but  there 
seems  no  authority  for  any  financial  officer  to  hold  the 
charters  and  rolls  of  the  city,  to  be  its  "Custos  Rotulorum." 

When  it  was  issued  Dongan's  Charter  was  surely  com- 
mitted to  the  custody  of  the  Mayor,  Nicholas  Bayard,  and  the 
Clerk,  John  West.  It  would  seem  therefore  that  the  clerk  is 
the  proper  holder  of  the  same  and  responsible  for  its  safe 
keeping. 


